Games have been played by the human race for a very long time. There are simple, one person games where the individual matches his wits against a deck of cards or a computer and there are multi-player games where a number of people gather together to match wits against each other.
Typical computer games include chess, where the computer acts as the opposing player, solitaire, where player plays against himself and the computer ensures that the player follows the rules, and action games, such as DOOM.TM., manufactured by GT Interactive of New York City, N.Y., USA, where the player has to move through a two- or three-dimensional world, fighting various objects and people to achieve maximal points. The computer presents the landscape of the world, moves the various objects and people and maintains the score of the player. Other types of computer games are simulation games, such as SIMCITY 2000.TM., manufactured by Maxis Inc. of Walnut Creek, Calif., USA, which enable the player to create a world and then simulate how that world will function.
With data networks which connect multiple workstations together, such as local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs) and the Internet, have come multi-player games, such as AIR WARRJOR.TM., manufactured by Kesmai Corporation of the USA, and MULTIPLAYER BATTLETECH.TM., manufactured by FASA Inc. of the USA. With networked multi-player games, players can play together even though they are not physically close.
Unfortunately, creating such multi-player games for networks is difficult and time-consuming. In addition to programming the game concept, the programming team must program the constantly changing graphics, the responses to the player input and the communication with the other players. The latter is extremely difficult over wide area networks due to the latency inherent in transmitting data packets. Thus, the action on the screen of one player might not match the action on the screen of another player. This is undesirable. It is noted that programming a multi-player networked game typically takes many man-years.